


Rending The Veil

by siriusblue



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Fluff and Smut, Halloween, Light Angst, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 05:17:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16402016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriusblue/pseuds/siriusblue
Summary: At Halloween Tony gets a visitor as the walls between worlds become thin for one night only.





	Rending The Veil

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Ironstrange Halloween Advent Calendar on Tumblr. Eternal thanks to merelypassingtime for an incredible beta.

RENDING THE VEIL

 

Written for the Ironstrange Halloween Advent Calendar on Tumblr with many, many thanks to @merelypassingtime for a fabulous beta. Love you, Mere. 

  
  


Halloween. Tony had kept himself busy all day knowing if he stopped, even for a minute, he would be forced to think.

 

He didn't want that. He didn't want to consider the Halloween parties going on that night, even though he had been invited to a few. 

 

There wasn't a single person on this or any other planet who hadn't been affected by The Snap and these parties were the first proper excuse they had had to try and forget, even if it was for just a day.

 

Tony didn't want to forget what he had lost. Peter's memory was a bloody bruise on his heart, one he could never forgive himself for,  but losing Stephen, just when they had been on the cusp of something amazing, kept him awake at night and chained to his workshop throughout the day so he did not have time to feel.

 

Memories of the sorcerer kept intruding that day until Tony couldn't bear it any more and went home. The sun was just beginning to set as he opened the door to his apartment.

 

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, open compartment 52,” he said, throwing his keys down on the coffee table.

 

“Mr Stark, you made me promise that compartment would never be opened.”

 

“Yeah, well, I'm overriding that command. Open compartment 52. And tell the refrigerator I'm gonna need extra ice. A  _ lot _ of extra ice.”

 

“Very good, sir.”

 

Tony wondered if A.I.’s were capable of sulking because F.R.I.D.A.Y. sure sounded like it could.

 

There was a pneumatic hiss and a litre bottle of chilled Grey Goose appeared on the island in the kitchen.

 

Tony walked towards it eagerly even though he could feel himself sweating as he watched the moisture condense on the sides of the vodka bottle.

 

As he picked up the bottle the atmosphere in the apartment seemed different somehow, charged with a subtle  _ something _ and Tony wondered if him attempting to break his sobriety was responsible when he heard a low chuckle behind him and a familiar voice said.

 

“Starting without me, Tony? Typical.”

 

The bottle slipped from Tony's nerveless fingers and smashed on the slate tiles as he spun round to face the intruder.

 

It couldn't be. And yet it was. Stephen was standing there in his apartment in his full regalia, the Cloak of Levitation snug on his shoulders.

 

“You're not real!” Tony whispered. “You can't be real.You're a hallucination. Been working too hard, not enough sleep, oh Christ!”

 

The hallucination had crossed the room and taken Tony's shaking hands in his.

 

The hands that held Tony's were warm and solid and, as Tony looked wonderingly, trembling and badly scarred.

 

“Stephen!” Tony exclaimed. “You're here! But how? I saw you die! I saw them all crumble to dust.”

 

“I know,” said Stephen in a soothing tone. “I can only imagine what that was like for you. I'll try and explain.”

 

The look in Stephen's ever-changing eyes was so fond, so typically  _ him  _ that Tony had to swallow a sudden lump in his throat.

 

“Halloween is based on the old Celtic festival of Samhain.” Stephen began.

 

“Yeah, I know that.” Tony interrupted which earned him a glare from the master of the mystic arts.

 

“The Celts believed that at this time of year, the veil between the world of the living and the dead becomes thin. Incredibly enough, they were one hundred percent correct. It is possible for the dead to visit their loved ones for one night only, from sunset to sunrise.”

 

“So you're here…”

 

“Till sunrise tomorrow. One night and I will return to the shadowlands.”

 

Tony wasn't quite sure what to believe, but Stephen was there, solid and smiling and if it were a particularly vivid hallucination Tony fervently hoped he would never recover. 

 

He took the sorcerer in his arms and gave him the kiss he had longed to bestow from the first time he saw him, a kiss Stephen returned with equal passion, one of his hands moving up to rest on the back of Tony's neck.

 

“I love you,” Tony confessed as their lips parted.

 

“I know.” Stephen admitted. “That's why I was allowed to return.”

 

“So those old druids really knew their stuff, huh? Wild.”

 

He kissed Stephen again, turning up the heat minute by minute until he said.

 

“We should absolutely make the most of tonight.”

 

Stephen, soft-eyed and loving, nodded and gestured to the door of Tony's bedroom with his head.

 

“Pretty much what I had in mind, Nebraska,” laughed Tony. “If that's cool with you?”

 

“It is indeed.”

 

“Okay. Tate,” Tony eyed the Cloak of Levitation with a grin. “Beat it. I'm going to take the Sorcerer Supreme here on a trip round the world. Last thing we need is an audience.”

 

With a huffy susurration of scarlet material, the Cloak left Stephen's shoulders and settled on the sofa looking for all the world like an invisible person in a massive sulk. 

 

Both men giggled before Tony took Stephen's hand and led him through to the bedroom...where he was suddenly naked and sprawled on the duvet with Stephen beside him, the sorcerer's hands running over his sensitized skin.

 

“How do you do that?” Tony groaned.

 

Stephen raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

 

“Sorcerer Supreme, remember? Now do you want a lesson in metaphysics or is there something better I could be doing with my mouth right now?”

 

It had been a long time since Tony had been with another man but this was Stephen, his love, and he didn't hold back. The sounds Stephen uttered as they made love were enough to skate Tony perilously close to the edge and then, his fingers coated with Stephen's release, right over it.

 

As they lay together afterwards, a whole constellation of fiery stars appeared on the ceiling, bathing them in a warm glow as they snuggled under the covers.

 

“Show off,” muttered Tony as he kissed Stephen again.

 

They talked for hours. They spoke of Tony's life as it was now and what his plans were for the future, of the people left behind after The Snap and what Tony could do to help.

 

Tony didn't want to fall asleep but he was overwhelmed with exhaustion and his last coherent memory was of Stephen stroking his hair and telling him to rest. But there was one vital thing he had to know before that happened.

 

“Will you come back next year?” Tony asked, trying not to sound too needy.

 

“Every year for as long as you live,” Stephen promised.

 

When he awoke on November 1st Tony knew he was alone and for the first time in as long as he could remember, it didn't upset him.

 

He wrapped a robe around himself and went into the kitchen to start the coffee.

 

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” he said. “Make dinner reservations for next Halloween. Le Manoir aux Quat'saisons and have the Lear on standby that day.”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

Tony looked out of the kitchen window to where Manhattan was waking up and raised his coffee cup in salute.

 

“Same time next year,darling.” he murmured.

  
  



End file.
